Holy Thursday
Mass of the Lord’s Supper
April 6, 2023
In the Upper Room with Jesus
We have gathered for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Far from merely recalling a past event, as one might recall events of history, through the liturgy we enter into the mystery of Christ and find ourselves seated at table with Christ and the Apostles. It is for us to listen attentively to his words and to understand what he does. For in the events of the Upper Room we discover our identity as God’s beloved sons and daughters, as disciples of the Lord, and as members of Christ’s Body, the Church.
In tonight’s reading from John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks and acts. In that passage, we do not see Jesus breaking bread or pouring wine or uttering the words of eucharistic institution – though that undoubtedly happened, (as the reading from St. Paul’s 2nd Letter to the Corinthians makes clear). Instead, we see him who is the Eternal Son, he who is Lord and Master, kneeling before his apostles and insisting that he wash their feet. What we are witnessing is more than a sidebar or a morality play. No, we are sharing in an event that signifies who Jesus is and what he came to do. Jesus is God’s Incarnate Son, the ultimate Suffering Servant, our Great High Priest, who did not cling to his divine status but emptied himself and became for us a slave, becoming obedient, even to death on the Cross for the sake of our salvation. He did this to purify us inwardly, to cleanse us of sin, to share with us his life.
The “Hour” (Kairos) of Jesus
As Jesus kneels before his disciples, he knows his “hour” has come. It is not merely an important moment in world history, but the hour on which the salvation of the world hinges, the appointed time for Jesus to fulfill his mission to suffer, die, and rise not only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel but indeed for all of humanity, for you and me, gathered this night in this Cathedral church.
In washing their feet, Jesus signifies the fathomless depth of his love for us. St. John tells us that Jesus loved his own to the very end. Who are his own? Those who have been purified already by immersion into his life. Just as the apostles were immersed in the life of Christ, so too we were immersed in his life when we were baptized. Thus, Jesus can say of us, “you are already clean” – even as we will rejoice to say the same of those to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. So we are “Jesus own”, beloved children of God, reborn of water and the Holy Spirit. And Jesus has loved us to the end, and what does this mean?
Surely it means that Jesus loved us to the point of dying for us, that is to say, giving himself to us completely, his flesh and his blood, on the Cross where he was broken and his blood was outpoured, and in the Eucharist where his sacrifice is renewed, and we receive his flesh and blood. But what is the point of this “love to the end”, this complete outpouring of his love? Does it not have something to do with the very end, the very goal of our existence? We are made for love. Our lives make no sense without it. Unless we encounter love, love that is infinite and pure, we are an enigma to ourselves. Jesus came to purify us inwardly so that deterred from all infidelities and detours, we might discover in his humanity the God who is love, the God who loves us infinitely, that love we were created to share in. In washing us, in cleansing us, Jesus is not merely calling us to a higher standard, or merely admonishing us to go and serve the needs of others. He is infusing us with his love, his identity, his presence, so that it is not longer I who love my neighbor but Christ living, breathing, and working in and through me, who loves my neighbor, and loves my neighbor with same kind of generosity that Jesus displayed.
Clean But Still in Need of Washing
But why, if his disciples were already clean, did Jesus wash their feet? To repeat, Jesus was not putting on a morality play but setting the pattern that for his Church to follow until the end of time. For Jesus knew what was (and is) in the human heart: our proclivity to infidelities great and small in our daily lives. While we are made clean, washed once for all in baptism, we need continually to be cleansed, purified of sin, if we are to approach the table of the Lord worthily and joyfully.
How, then, does Jesus wash our feet? When does he who is Lord and Master kneel before us to cleanse us yet again? Is it not in the Sacrament of Reconciliation? There we encounter the Lord who is among us “as one who serves” – as one who in meekness and humility pours forth upon us his cleansing mercy, asking that we but acknowledge our need and come to terms with our sins. If you have not yet made a good, unburdening confession, may I urge you to do so? I can only tell you that in my life and ministry, I cannot live without this sacrament!
Judas’ Betrayal and Peter’s Objections
Let us complete our reflection on tonight’s Gospel by turning briefly to the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, whose life ended in tragedy. The greatest tragedy of his life was not his greed for money but his loss of faith. He heard wisdom itself speak. He saw the miracles. He hardened his heart, hardened it to the point of despairing of God’s power to forgive. Breaking free from the yoke of Christ, he became the captive of Satan’s heavy yoke. Does not the figure of Judas loom large in the betrayals that have beset the Church? Believing as we do in divine forgiveness, let us lay them tonight at the feet of Jesus with abject humility.
What of Peter’s objections to Jesus’ desire to wash his feet. “Never!” said he, just as he had protested when Jesus revealed that he would suffer and die. When Jesus makes clear that his arrest and execution are imminent, Peter displays his usual bravado, and like every display of bravado, his is devoid of grace and ultimately falls apart as Peter denies Jesus three times. But Peter loved the Master, believed in forgiveness, and repented of his sins – and ultimately would lay down his life with a courage born of the Holy Spirit. Teaching us, I would say, that we should not be telling God what to do but instead allowing the Spirit of God to refashion us day by day into his image, as we submit to him all that we are and all that we have and all that we do.
Eucharistic Adoration
At the conclusion of Mass, we will process with the Blessed Sacrament to the altar of reservation in St. Joseph’s Chapel, there to adore the Lord as the altars are stripped and we share in Jesus’ agony in the Garden. This is exactly the time to invite the Eucharistic Lord to live in us afresh, exactly the time to lay before him our betrayals big and small, exactly the time to discover afresh our true glory by sharing in Christ’s gift of self in the Eucharist and on the Cross.
O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving, be every moment Thine.